Home > News > Have your say in the new Relationships (Sex) Education statutory guidance

Have your say in the new Relationships (Sex) Education statutory guidance

Babcock LDP

Links between wellbeing and attainment have long been recognised and so the DfE recently published draft guidance to introduce two new statutory subjects: Relationships Education (primary) and Relationships & Sex Education (secondary), and Health Education for all state-funded schools. This does not apply to post-16, although PSHE is statutory for independent schools. We hope that all interested professionals will respond to the consultation by 7/11/18.

Additional Consultation Considerations

In addition to responding to the consultation on relationships education, RSE and health education, we hope that school leaders and interested professionals will also comment on:

Should Careers Education and / or Financial Education be explicitly excluded from the Guidance, especially when the need for understanding personal finance is so important?

Would it not be easier to mandate PSHE education, rather than have guidance on Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education?

Given that many girls start their periods in KS2, why include menstruation in the section on physical health and mental well-being for secondary school pupils? This needs to be taught in the primary curriculum, for both boys and girls, as part of the changing adolescent body.

Would it help primary schools to have clearer guidance about the naming of body parts that children should learn from Year 2 or 3, certainly at the start of KS2, partly to link with NC Science but principally to support safeguarding?

The guidance talks a lot about knowledge, and although (children and young) people cannot make informed decisions with inaccurate knowledge, knowledge alone is unlikely to enable them to be able to make the pro-social, pro-health choices that we would like them to make. Should the Guidance be more explicit about the role of skills or competences?

What additional recommendations would you like to see about the contribution from local Public Health / School Nursing would you like to see to help inform the curriculum and possibly to provide CPD?

Finally and perhaps most importantly: Does your school currently have adequate resources, support and training to be able to implement the Guidance? Should DfE make additional funding available to support CPD?

Share this page

Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education

Written by our PSHE Advisor - a comprehensive guide to the new statutory draft guidance, packed full of useful links and information